Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

Al-iryani et al. 2011 [32]

To highlight the factors that facilitated or inhibited community based peer education

Yemen

Community setting (4 poor and vulnerable areas)

Qualitative study design

16 community focal points, 21 peer educators, 10 targeted young people in communities, 3 young female sex workers, 2 local council members

Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews

Thematic analysis

Aung et al. 2017 [33]

To evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of integrated, community-based, and clinic-based intervention

Myanmar

Community and healthcare setting (3 townships, clinics and drop-in centers)

Mixed methods study design; qualitative component

54 young men who have sex with men aged 15–24 years and 18 peer educators

Focus group discussions

Thematic analysis

Garofalo et al. 2012 [34]

To assess the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of Life Skills intervention

United States of America

Community setting (1 urban geographical area, night clubs, pageants, local parks, youth centre, community organization)

Quasi-experimental one group, before-after design

51 Transgender women aged 16–24 years

Audio-computer-assisted self-interviewing technology

Descriptive analysis and statistical analysis

Greene et al. 2016 [35]

To assess the effectiveness and acceptability of online HIV prevention intervention

United States of America

Community setting (local non-profit community-based organization)

Quasi-experimental one group, before-after design

343 ethnically and racially diverse young men who have sex with men aged 18–24 years

Online evaluation surveys

Descriptive analysis and statistical analysis

Jewkes et al. 2010 [36]

To explore how participants made meaning from the Stepping Stones intervention and how it influenced their lives

South Africa

Community setting (poor, rural formerly subsistence farming area)

Qualitative study design

11 women and 10 men majority aged 17–21 years, and 4 focus groups

In-depth interviews and focus group discussions

Content analysis and analytic induction

Morrison-Beedy et al. 2013 [37]

To describe the experiences of adolescent girls who participated in a sexual risk‐reduction intervention

United States of America

Community setting (poor urban area, community-based organization)

Qualitative descriptive study design

26 African American urban, low income girls aged 15–19 years

Semi-structured interviews

Thematic analysis

Musiimenta., 2012 [38]

To identify contextual mediators that influence the youth’s decision to adopt and maintain the HIV/AIDS preventive behavior

advocated by a computer-assisted intervention

Uganda

Educational setting (secondary schools)

Qualitative study design

20 youth

Individual telephone interviews

Grounded theory’s three-stage coding process analysis

Ridgeway et al. 2020 [39]

To explore individual, interpersonal- and household-level factors influencing HIV-related sexual risk behavior among adolescent girls who participated in the Women First intervention

Mozambique

Community setting (poor rural area)

Qualitative study design

28 adolescent girls aged 13–19 years; mean age 16 years, 30 household heads and 53 influential men

In-depth interviews

Primary analysis, inductive approach and within-case and cross-case comparative analysis

Rohrbach et al. 2019 [40]

To assess effectiveness and implementation of the HIV/STI/Pregnancy prevention program

United States of America

Educational setting (24 urban public middle schools)

Quasi-experimental non-equivalent two-group, before-after study design

44 teachers and trained program staff

Implementation logs and observations

Analysis not reported

Sales et al. 2012 [41]

To examine factors associated with adolescents’ failure to improve their

condom use behaviors after participating in an STI/HIV prevention intervention

United States of America

Healthcare setting (3 downtown clinics)

Randomized controlled trial design

205 African-American adolescent females aged 15–21 years; mean age 17.9 years

Audio computer assisted self-interview and self-collected vaginal swab

Descriptive analysis, statistical analysis and logistic regression

Sales et al. 2012a [42]

To identify factors associated

with young African American females’ lack of increase in condom use post-participation in an HIV prevention intervention

United States of America

Healthcare setting (2 downtown sexual health clinics)

Qualitative grounded theory study design

50 young

African American women aged 18–23 years; mean age 20.5 years

Semi-structured interviews

Grounded theory’s three-stage coding process analysis

Wamoyi et al. 2012 [43]

To explore young people’s memories and views of the relevance of the sexual and reproductive health intervention

and their ability to apply what they had learned 7–9 years after exposure to the intervention

Tanzania

Community setting  (rural area)

Qualitative study design

23 rural Tanzanian young people males aged 24–29 years and females aged 24–30 years

In-depth interviews

Preliminary analysis and grounded theory’s three-stage coding process analysis

Wight et al. 2012 [44]

To explain the MEMA kwaVijana trial outcomes

Tanzania

Community, educational and healthcare setting (rural area, communities, primary schools, health facilities)

Qualitative ethnography study design

92 trial participants, 6 single sex groups of young villagers and 9 villages

Participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, stimulated patient visits, internal monitoring and evaluation, and annual surveys of implementers

Thematic analysis